2) Read the text and skim for the main idea. What is this reading mainly about?

(a) A famous African bride

(b) A traditional wedding

(c) Traditional desert clothing

The Tuareg bride, Assalama, sits silently as female relatives and helpers make sure that every hair is perfect for the first day of her wedding celebration. Such attention is new for the bride, who is only 15 years old and who has spent most of her time tending her mother’s goats and sheep. The Tuareg are nomads, and it was only by chance that she was reunited with her 25-year-old cousin Mohamed a month earlier. Just back from five years working in Libya, Mohamed spotted Assalama as she drew water from a well. “I knew from that moment that I wanted to marry her”, he says. Wasting no time, he asked for her hand, she accepted, their families approved, and wedding plans began.

Following Tuareg traditions, the marriage rite is performed at a nearby mosque in the presence of only the couple’s parents. Assalama and Mohamed are absent. A few days later for the celebration approaches, and guests begin to arrive. For a week, some 500 guests enjoy camel races, sing, and eat rice, dates, and reasted meat in tents under the Saharan stars. Mohamed wears an indigo tagelmust, a cloth that wraps his head and face. The rich color, which rubs off onto the skin, earned these once fierce Saharan warriors the title “blue men of the desert”. For the Tuareg, the tagelmust is more than just clothing that keeps out the desert sand and sun; it demonstrates respect and is thought to keep evil creatures known as jinns away, as is henna, a reddish-brown coloring used on Mohamed’s feet. Henna is also a symbol of purity, and is reserved for a man’s first marriage.

At the celebration, a tent called an ehan is prepared for Assalama and Mohamed. Women take down and put up the tent every day of celebration, making it slightly larger each time to symbolize the progress of the celebration and of the couple’s relationship. Assalama stays inside the tent during the whole celebration, only showing her face or speaking to Mohamed, her best friend, her mother, and one special helper. During the celebration, neither Assalama nor Mohamed is ever left alone for fear they might be harmed by jealous jinns.

As the celebration ends, the couple prepares to spend the first year of their marriage with Assalama’s family. Mohamed will offer displays of respect to his in-laws, working hard to win their approval. Once he does that, he will take his bride back to his camp and start his nomad’s caravan moving again.

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